Vavra leads run at nationals

All season, the IU women’s swimming and diving team has been ranked in the top 15. In a fitting way to end the season, it finished 15th in the nation at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship on Saturday in Minneapolis .

Junior Allysa Vavra swam two Honorable Mention All-American races along with an All-American finish in the 400-yard Individual Medley, which was also a Big Ten record.

This capped off a very successful month for Vavra, in which she won both the 200 and 400-yard IM competitions at the Big Ten Championships.

IU coach Ray Looze said he attributes the majority of her success to her work ethic throughout the season.

“With her, she’s an extremely hard worker — one of our hardest,” Looze said. “It’s just really nice to see somebody that does many of the right things get rewarded at the end of the season.”

Vavra led a class that Looze said he believes has the potential to be one of the best in IU history. Looze said this was his best class ever in terms of leadership during his nine-year tenure as head coach.

“They’re just a very, very special group of girls,” Looze said. “They’ve really led by example and if their teammates have been watching and benefiting from having someone like that on a team, they’re going to be better for it.”